LACON CHILDE SCHOOL
PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM DESIGN
Our curriculum is designed to be ambitious, coherent, progressive and balanced, with a strong emphasis on the development of knowledge, skills and cultural capital.
At Lacon, we ensure there is an ongoing process of curriculum development and use the latest evidence to carefully plan the progression of knowledge within each subject area. This ensures that students build on what they have learned previously and are equipped to tackle more challenging concepts as they move through their educational journey with us.
To support academic progress, we have built our curriculum on a distinctive learning culture shaped around our Lacon ME learning habits:
- Caring
- Empathetic
- Kind
- Respectful
- Determined
- Independent
- Curious
- Resilient
- Innovative
- Organised
- Reflective
- Resourceful
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Principle |
Implementation |
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Pillars of Progression |
Pillars of progression articulate the way in which learners make progress in their learning. They help us to structure our curriculum incrementally and appropriately. Progression must be embedded in our learning and teaching. |
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Knowledge is power |
Powerful, essential knowledge is the knowledge that ALL students need to acquire. It is built on previous learning and essential for future learning. Across the curriculum we have carefully considered how we teach the classes of knowledge in each subject area: Substantive knowledge - established fact Disciplinary knowledge - knowing how we know Declarative knowledge - knowing what Procedural knowledge - knowing how to (directly linked to skills) Concepts help students to organise and retain important ideas and skills, and provide coherence. The use of concepts in our curriculum planning enables our teachers to be more selective about what they teach. If we identify the concepts (big ideas/questions) and teach these then our students are likely to know more, remember more and be able to do more, over time. |
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Sequencing |
The process of curriculum sequencing defines the order and content of what to teach and when. Decisions over the sequencing should be coherent and cleverly constructed to support knowledge acquisition for ALL students. Content should be organised into overarching concepts/big questions. This will enable to develop consistent and strong mental models. |
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Breadth, depth and diversity |
Our curriculum choices are taken in accordance with Lacon’s high ambition for all students to retain access to a broad and balanced offer as this entitlement provides a sound foundation for future education, training and employment. Teachers breathe life into our curriculum by supporting the exploration of wider issues of diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities through their teaching. Students see links to wider issues and personal development through their studies. We build in repetition and practise opportunities for essential and powerful knowledge in every subject, which enables students to revisit previous learning and deepen their understanding. |